"He kept it up for half an hour or more, and then he seemed to have enough of it. Vogel came on deck and told me the prisoner was very humble then, and wanted to come out. I knew you did not mean that I should starve him, and I made Sopsy put his breakfast on the table in the cabin; but I did not do so till I had locked the liquor closet and put the key in my pocket.
"I let him out then, and his first move was to get at his whiskey; but the door was locked. He begged like a child for a drink; but I did not give him a drop. Sopsy and Bokes, who were tied up forward, did the same; but they did not get any. Captain Sullendine ate his breakfast, and I told him his vessel was a prize to the United States steamer Bellevite. Then he was so furious that we had to shut him up in his stateroom again.
"After a while he promised to behave himself, and I let him out again. He declared that his vessel was not a legal prize, and got off a lot of stuff that I did not take any notice of. He wanted to make a protest to the commander of the Bellevite, and when he promised to behave like a gentleman, I let him come on board with me."
"You acted with very good judgment, French, and Mr. Passford has already commended your good conduct in the expedition last night," said the commander.
"Thank you, sir," replied the prize-master, touching his cap, and backing away without another word.
"Loring," called the captain to the master-at-arms, who had just returned to the quarter-deck, or as near it as etiquette permitted him to go. "How is your prisoner?"
"He broke down completely after he had been in the brig a few minutes, and promised to behave like a gentleman if the commander would hear him."
"Bring him to the quarter-deck," added the captain.
In a few minutes, the ship's corporal conducted him into the presence of the commander. He began with a very lame apology for his previous conduct, and then declared that he was the victim of a "Yankee trick," and that the West Wind had not been fairly captured.
"Your officers imposed upon me," he continued. "Mr. Balker and Jerry Sandman"—